Daily census tract-level wildfire fine particulate matter concentrations for California, 2006-2020

This dataset contains aggregated measurements of daily wildfire-specific fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations at the census tract level in California from 2006 to 2020. Similar data at the zip code level was first described in a study by Aguilera et al. (2023): "A novel ensemble-based statistical approach to estimate daily wildfire-specific PM2.5 in California (2006-2020)," published in Environment International. We used monitoring data and statistical techniques to estimate daily wildfire PM2.5 concentrations at each census tract population-weighted centroid across California. Input data included monitored PM2.5 concentrations and a wide range of predictors for PM2.5, such as aerosol optical depth, land cover, and meteorological conditions, to estimate daily concentrations of PM2.5. We also used the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Hazard Mapping System and fire perimeter data from CalFIRE to isolate daily wildfire smoke PM2.5 from total PM2.5.